Rail flaw detector car



Aug. 13, 1935. G. L. JONES v RAIL FLAW DETECTOR CAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 8, 1934 M Z My t F? F. ax T H 3nven'tor 6 w nnv m TU m r e L 4 e WM 0 Aug. 13, 1935. a. L. JONES 2,011,409

RAIL FLAW DETECTOR CAR Filed March a, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3nnentor Ba Geofge Lester Jmes' Patented Aug. 13, 1935 RAIL FLAW DETECTOR CAR George Lester Jones, Garden City. N. Y.. assignor to Sperry Products. Inc.; Brooklyn, N. Y.. a corporation of New .York

Application March 8. 1934, Serial No. 714,621

11 Claims.

This invention relates to rail flaw detector cars adapted to travel on railroad tracks and detect fissures inside the rails. More particularly, the invention relates to the Sperry rail flaw detector car wherein a detector mechanism is suspended from each side of the car to cooperate with the respective rail. Such suspended mechanisms are normally biased outwardly against the gauge side of the rail and it has been found that an approaching a frog the mechanism which is supported on a carriage riding on the rail sometimes tended to enter the turnout track of the frog when the car itself was travelling on the main track. This caused derailment and in some instances complete destruction of the carriage supporting the detector mechanism.

It is a principal object of my invention, therefore, to provide a device which will permit the flaw detector mechanisms to pass safely through frogs without passing to the wrong side of the facing point of the frog which would tend to derail and even destroy the detector mechanism.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent in the following detailed description thereof.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a verticafsection through a portion of a Sperry rail flaw detector car showing the detector mechanism suspended therefrom.

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. l and showing my invention applied to the detector mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation showing a modified form of my invention.

7 Fig. 5 is a view largely diagrammatic showing the control mechanism included in my invention.

Fig, 6 is a view largely diagrammatic showing a modified form of control'mechanism,

Referring to the drawings, there is'disclosed in Fig. 1 the Sperry rail flaw detector mechanism as applied to a Sperry rail flaw detector car. A portion of the car body it) is disclosed, within which is supported a generator G for supplying current to the rail by means of sets of brushes l I and i2 to establish an electromagnetic field surrounding the rail. The fiux in said field will be uniform as long as there are no flaws in the rail, but when a flaw is present the flux in said field is distorted. Such distortion -of the field is detected by means of a pair of induction coils I5 spaced in tandem along the rail. Said coils are of equal inductance and oppositely wound so that normally as the car travels along the rail they cut a constant and equal number of lines of force. On entering a region of flaw, one coil-will cut a different number of lines of force than. the other to generate a difierential E. M. F. which, after 50 being suitably amplified, may be caused to operate any suitable indicator such as a recorder. The said coils are mounted in a housing l6 carried by a detector carriage l'l adapted to ride on the rail by means such as wheels I8. Said detector carriage is in turn supported on a current 5 brush carriage 20 by means of loosely fitting bolts 2| and springs 22 which'permits the detector carriage IT to move independently of carriage 20 and to adjust itself to irregularities in. the rail surface. The current brush carriage 20 sup- 10 ports the current brushes Hand l2 and may be supported on the rail by means of wheels 25, which wheels are toed outwardly as shown in Fig. 2 so as normally to bias the current brush carriage outwardly into firm engagement with the 15 gauge side of the rail. The carriage may be biased outwardly also by means of springs 26 (see Fig. 4), said springs assisting the toeing out action of the wheels in maintaining the current brush carriage constantly against the gauge side of the rail. The current brush carriage 20 is supported on the car body by means of piston rods 28 connected to pistons 29 operating in fluid pressure cylinders 30 mounted in a Cardan suspension 35, 36, 31 which permits the carriage 20 5 to swing laterally with respect to the rail.' The current brush 20 is normally held in raised position by means of retractile springs 3| and cables 32, 33, but when it is desired to lower the carrlage into engagement with the rail, fluid pres- 30 sure, such as compressed air, is admitted to the cylinders 30 to depress the pistons and thus lower the carriage against the action of the retractile springs.

The mechanism shown in Fig. 1 is duplicated 35 at each side of the track so that one of said mechanisms coacts with the respective rail. By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that if each of these mechanisms were supported independent of eachother as has heretofore been the practice, 40

and said detector car travelled in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, then on approaching a frog there would be a tendency, because of the fact that each carriage is biased outwardly against the gauge side of the rail as described 45 above, for said wheels 25 to enter the turnout side 40 of the frog. Since the car itself travels along the undeviating, or main, portion of the track on the side 39 of the frog, the carriage 20 would be moved outwardly to cause eventual derailment, 50 and, as has been the case in several instances heretofore, complete destruction of the said carrlage.

To remedy the above difficulty I provide the following construction which will prevent the 55 current brush carriage from riding into the turn out side of the frog when the car is on the main track:

Since only one side of the track is affected by a frog while the other side is straight, unbroken track, I make ac oi. this fact by locking the two carriages at the respective sides of the track together so that in effect there is formed a 4- wheel truck which, like the 4-wheel trucks of the car body ill, or 'of any car, will not be affected by entering a frog. This is due to two reasons. In"

the first place, the carriage-20' on the straight track is biased outwardly by means of the toedout wheel and the springs, as heretofore deagainst inward movement, and therefore by locking carriage 20 to carriage 28, carriage 28 is locked'against further'outward movement andthus locked against movement into the turnout path 40.

The means which I provide for locking together the carriages at opposite sides of the car when a frog is approached may take the form shown in Fig. 2 which comprises rods5ll pivotally supported at ii on one of the carriages and coacting with sleeves 52 ,pivotally supported at 58 on the other of said carriages. The rods normally are free to move within said sleeves so that said carriages are normally free to move independently of each other. On approaching a irog,.however, such freedom of movement may be interrupted and the sleeves locked firmly to the rods. For effecting such locking, the following construction may be employed: The ends of sleeves 52 may be slit in several places at 54 and a strap 55 may be provided. The ends of said strap may be wrapped firmly around the end oi. said respective sleeve to lock said sleeve to the rod 58 by means such 'as a piston 51 operating in cylinder 58 to which fluid pressure is adapted to be supplied from any suitable source by means of tube 88. When said fluid pressure is discharged into the'cylinder the piston is depressed to pull the piston rod 88 inwardly, said rod being fastened to one end 8| of the strap so as to carry said end toward the end 82 fixed to cylinder 58 and through which piston 80 operates, and thus lock the strap around the sleeve. In this manner both sleeves 52 are locked to the rods 50 and the two carriages 20 and 28' are locked together as a unit. The ends of said strap are normally moved apart by means such as spring 63.

An alternative method of locking the two carriages together is disclosed in Fig. 4. Instead of rod 50 operating in sleeves 52 there may be provided a'cable connecting the two carriages, said cable extending from fixed guide roller 88 and a movable guide roller 61, said rollers being supported on the car body by means 01' a frame 88. The movable guide roller 61. is normally in lowered position and in such position the cable takes up the dotted line position to provide slack therein so that the carriages 20 and 28 may move independently of each other. When. however, a frog is approached the guide roller 61 is moved upwardly to the full line position by means such into fluid pressure cylinders 58' (see Fig. 5). nected at its other end to the piston 84 extending from the fluid pressure device 58. When fluid pressure is allowed to enterthe said cylinder 88 the piston rod 64 is drawn upwardly to raise the With the slack taken out or the cable, the two carriages 2! and 28' are locked together as a unit and it is impossible {or the distance between them to increase as would be necessary if one of the carriages entered the turnout side of the frog. The lever 89 is normally held in lowered position by means such as a spring I8.

It has been described hereinbefore that detector carriage I1 is mounted on current brush carriage 20 by means of bolts 2| extending loosely into the said carriage so as to permit movement of said detector carriage I1 independent of the movement of carriage 20. It may occur on approaching a frog that the detector carriage I'I may'tend to ride into the wrong side 48 of the frog and thus be carried outwardly, which would destroy the mounting 01' said detector carriage on the current brush carriage. To prevent such a condition from occurring, I may provide straps 88 on carriage 28 adapted to engage the upper ends ofbolts 2| when fluid pressure is introduced into fiuid pressure cylinders 88' (see Fig. 5)

The control of the means for locking, the carriages 20 and 28' together as a unit, either by the Fig. 2 or Fig. 4 form of the invention, may be manual under the control of the operator, in part manual and in part automatic as described below. The manual control may consist of a switch 8- (see Fig. 5) adapted to be closed by the operator on the car when a frog is approached. Said switch controls a circuit including a battery B in which is located a relay 18 which actuates a valve 8i controlling the supply oi fluid pressure to the cylinders 58 and 88. If it is desired to operate said valve 8| semi-automatically, there may be mounted on the car body a finger 82 projecting downwardly into the path of switch rail SR so that on approaching .a frog, finger 82 will strike said rail in advance of the frog and will swing about its pivot 88 to close a set of contacts 84 to operate the valve ll. Contacts 84 are connected in parallel in the circuit of battery 13 and when it is desired to operate the locking means semi-automatically swi tch S" Instead of a fluid pressure supply such as compressed air for operating the locking means, that is the straps which encircle the sleeves, I may employ electro-magnetic devices which may take the form of solenoids 88, 88', the cores of which may be the rods 88 corresponding to the rods of the Fig. 3 form. Here, too, the operator may control the energization oi all of said relays ll,-

' B and rod 82 engaging the switch rail.

In accordance with the provisions or the patent statutes, I have herein described the principleand operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best-embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only 11- lustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some oi these may be altered, and others omitted without 51 interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a car body, a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising means independent of said car-body for locking the said carriages together.

2. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a car-body, a carriage at each side thereof, movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising means independent of said car-body for interconnecting. said carriages to limit the maximum distance between them.

4. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising means for locking the said carriages together and means engageable with the switch rail of the frog for rendering said locldng' means effective.

5. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising means for locking the said carriages together, means whereby said locking means is normally maintained ineffective, and

means engageable with the switch rail of the frog for rendering said locking means effective.

. 6. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a. frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising a cable interconnecting said carriages, means whereby said cable is normally maintained slack to permit relative outward movement between said carriages, and means for eliminating said slack to lock said carriages against. outward movement on approaching the frog.

7. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side'thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track said means comprising a cable interconnecting said carriages, means whereby said cable is normally maintained slack to permit relative outward movement between said carriages, and means engageable with the switch railof a frog for eliminating said slack to lock said carriages against outward movement on approaching the 8. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail. each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turn said means comprising a cable interconnecting said carriages, a movable pulley for normally supporting said cable in slack position to permit relative outward movement between said carriages, and means for moving said pulley to eliminate said slack and lock said carriages against outward movement on approaching a frog.

9. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having'a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising a cable interconnecting said carriages, a movable pulley for normally supporting said cable in slack position to permit relative outward movement between said carriages, and means engageable with the switch rail oi a frog for moving said pulley to eliminate said slack and lock said carriages against outward movement on approaching a frog.

10. In combination with a rail flaw detector car having a carriage at each side thereof movable laterally with respect to the rail, each carriage supporting flaw detector mechanism and having wheels engaging the respective rail, means for preventing said carriages from entering the turnout of a frog when said car is on the main track, said means comprising a sleeve carried by the carriage at one side, a rod carried by the carriage at the other side and extending into said sleeve, clamping means for clamping said sleeve to said rod, said clamping means being normally track, said means comprising a sleeve carried by the carriage at one side, a rod carried by the carriage at the other side and extending into said sleeve, clamping means for clamping said sleeve to said rod, said clamping means being normally ineffective so that said rod moves freely in said sleeve, and means engageable with the switch rail of a frog for rendering said clampingmeans effective on approaching a frog.

GEORGE LESTER JONES.

out of a frog when said car is on the main track, V 

